SUDEP Action

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Child Health Reviews - UK

The Child Health Reviews-UK project is carrying out a themed review of mortality and morbidity in children and young people with epilepsy. It is looking at care in different healthcare settings, including primary, community and hospital care. The findings and recommendations of the review are due to be published in the Autumn.

In recent years there has been a renewed focus on improving care for people with epilepsy.  This is partially in response to high-profile cases of epilepsy deaths, with efforts being made to address variations in service provision, high rates of misdiagnosis and mismanagement.  However, in spite of this, the clinical care received by children and young people with epilepsy who have died has not been reviewed since the 2002 National Sentinel Clinical Audit of Epilepsy-Related Death, which found that 59 per cent of child deaths were potentially or probably avoidable.

For these reasons this review of mortality and morbidity in children and young people with epilepsy will provide a valuable contribution to the evidence base in this area, and potentially improve clinical practice.

The review has built on methods of previous confidential enquiries by incorporating clinical questionnaire data, in addition to criterion-based and holistic case note assessment. Data collection is based around the new electronic web-portal developed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).

This project is being managed by staff at the RCPCH.  The clinical lead is Dr Peter Sidebotham, Consultant Paediatrian and Associate Professor of Child Health at the University of Warwick.

For more information.